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Twitter Invests $70 Million In Music Streaming Service SoundCloud

An anonymous reader writes: Recode reports that Twitter has decided to purchase a piece of the music streaming service SoundCloud. Roughly two years ago, Twitter thought about buying SoundCloud, but ultimately ended up walking away from the music service. Now, Twitter has invested around $70 million “as part of a round that should end up in the $100 million-range.” Recode reports: “The round is expected to value SoundCloud at about $700 million — the same value that investors placed on the company in 2014, when it raised $60 million; since then it has also raised a debt round.” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey wouldn’t comment on the specifics, but did confirm Twitter’s stake in the company. “Earlier this year we made an investment in SoundCloud through Twitter Ventures to help support some of our efforts with creators, ” said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. “They’ve been great partners of ours over the years and their community-supported approach mirrors ours in many ways.” Twitter may try and integrate SoundCloud into its service to increase growth and engagement, while SoundCloud may try and use Twitter to promote its newly launched subscription service. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Twitter Invests $70 Million In Music Streaming Service SoundCloud

Harley-Davidson will make an electric motorcycle in 5 years

Harley-Davidson wasn’t just fooling around when it showed off its electric Project LiveWire motorcycle. In a chat with the Milwaukee Business Journal , the bike maker’s Sean Cummings says that there will be an electric Harley within the next 5 years. That’s 2021, if you want to mark your calendar. He’s not giving any clues as to what this e-bike will entail, but it probably won’t resemble the 2014-era LiveWire. As our Autoblog colleagues point out , the biggest challenge is maximizing range. The LiveWire concept only got 60 miles on a charge at best, which just won’t cut it when you’re riding to Sturgis . Harley doesn’t have the luxury of a large car floor to hold its battery packs — it has to cram a lot of cells into a narrow space without making the bike ugly or unmaneuverable. A cruiser may make more sense than a street bike. Having said this, the very fact that Harley is planning a production e-bike is noteworthy. This is a brand that’s virtually synonymous with loud, roaring gas engines. Clearly, it believes there’s enough interest in the idea (or at least, enough pressure from an eco-conscious society) that it’s worth bucking expectations. Via: Autoblog Source: Milwaukee Business Journal (sub. required)

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Harley-Davidson will make an electric motorcycle in 5 years

Asymmetric Molecule, Key To Life, Detected In Space For First Time

schwit1 quotes a report from Yahoo News: Scientists for the first time have found a complex organic molecule in space that bears the same asymmetric structure as molecules that are key to life on Earth. The researchers said on Tuesday they detected the complex organic molecule called propylene oxide in a giant cloud of gas and dust near the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Akin to a pair of human hands, certain organic molecules including propylene oxide possess mirror-like versions of themselves, a chemical property called chirality. Scientists have long pondered why living things make use of only one version of certain molecules, such as the ‘right-handed’ form of the sugar ribose, which is the backbone of DNA. The discovery of propylene oxide in space boosts theories that chirality has cosmic origins. The scientists in the new study used radio telescopes to ferret out the chemical details of molecules in the distant, star-forming cloud of gas and dust. As molecules move around in the vacuum of space they emit telltale vibrations that appear as distinctive radio waves. Future studies of how polarized light interacts with the molecules may reveal if one version of propylene oxide dominates in space, the researchers said. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Asymmetric Molecule, Key To Life, Detected In Space For First Time

Apple will deactivate Flash by default on Safari 10

You know that Maya Angelou quote that says “Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option?” If Flash were a person following that tenet, then it now has to drop Safari from its dwindling list of priorities. In a post on the WebKit blog, Apple engineer Ricky Mondello has revealed that the company is deactivating Adobe Flash by default on Safari 10. That’s the version of the browser shipping with macOS Sierra this fall. If you access a website that has both Flash and HTML5, the browser will opt for the latter. But if the page requires Flash to work, then a prompt will pop up asking if you’d like to switch it on. You can choose to active it just for that session or to keep it on for that URL forever. If you’ll recall, Microsoft and Google have been distancing themselves from Flash for quite some time, as well. Edge only displays Flash if it’s a central element on the page you’re looking at (say, a game or a video), while Chrome has started blocking Flash ads late last year. On the mobile side of things, Apple has announced at WWDC that it’s requiring all iOS apps to connect to the internet via HTTPS by January 1st, 2017. That means developers have to switch on a feature Cupertino launched with iOS 9 called App Transport Security. ATS forces apps to use a secure connection to help keep your data safe. Via: MacRumors Source: WebKit , TechCrunch

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Apple will deactivate Flash by default on Safari 10

The Biggest Maker of Raspberry Pis Has Been Acquired For $871 Million

An anonymous reader writes from a report via The Verge: The biggest manufacturer of the Raspberry Pi minicomputer, Premier Farnell, has been acquired by Swiss industrial component supplier Daetwyler Holding AG for roughly $871 million. According to Bloomberg, the deal will reportedly help both companies compete better in the components market. “By combining forces, we significantly increase our competitiveness and extend our product range, ” Daetwyler Chairman Ulrich said in a statement, “facilitating a one-stop shopping experience for our wide range of customers from a multitude of industries.” Premier Farnell is one of the only companies with a license to design and distribute Raspberry Pis. The Wall Street Journal says the Raspberry Pi devices are a big part of the company’s business, as the division in charge of the Pi raked in 16 percent of the company’s total revenue last year. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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The Biggest Maker of Raspberry Pis Has Been Acquired For $871 Million

Rhapsody Rebrands Itself As Napster

An anonymous reader writes: After completing its purchase of Napster in December 2011, Rhapsody has decided to rebrand itself as Napster. Rhapsody made the announcement on their blog, which states: “No changes to your playlists, favorites, albums, and artists. Same music. Same service. Same price. 100% the music you love. Stay tuned!” That’s it. The company didn’t elaborate as to why they decided to change their name now. Napster has made a name for itself as being a brand synonymous with illegal music downloads. It’ll be interesting to what kind of effect, if any, this has on Rhapsody. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Rhapsody Rebrands Itself As Napster

Russian Hackers Reportedly Stole Donald Trump Opposition Research From The DNC

Russian hackers were able to snatch all of the Democratic National Committee’s opposition research on Donald Trump, according to US officials who spoke to the Washington Post . The hackers were able to read emails and instant messages as a result of the breach. Read more…

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Russian Hackers Reportedly Stole Donald Trump Opposition Research From The DNC

iOS 10 can livestream your games

You won’t have to use an Android phone if you want to livestream your mobile gaming sessions. Apple has revealed that iOS 10 will include ReplayKit Live, a feature that livestreams apps in addition to previous recording support. As you might expect, you can also include your own audio or video remarks. You’ll have to wait for both iOS 10 and supporting apps, of course (Mobcrush is one of the first to make plans), but it could be a big deal for iOS gamers who’ve wanted to share a hot new title while they’re playing it. ReplayKit Live should be useful in more productive apps, too — it could help teachers demonstrate concepts through educational apps, or open the window to live technical help. Via: 9to5Mac Source: Mobcrush (Medium)

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iOS 10 can livestream your games

Scientists find the largest known planet to orbit two stars

The notion of planets in a Tatooine -like system with two or more stars isn’t strange (they’ve been known since 1993), but a truly massive planet hasn’t been seen before… until now. Scientists using NASA’s Kepler space telescope have discovered Kepler-1647b, the largest known planet to orbit two stars (aka a circumbinary planet). The 4.4 billion year old gas giant is about as large as Jupiter, and orbits at a much further distance than other confirmed planets with a 1, 107-day trip. That’s still much closer than Jupiter, which takes 12 years, but it remains a rarity given our current knowledge. To no one’s surprise, researchers are doubtful that there’s any life to be found on Kepler-1647b; you won’t be visiting Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen any time soon. There’s a chance that any large moons around the planet might harbor organisms, though. And the discoverers are quick to note that this is just the “tip of the iceberg” for large, long-orbit circumbinary planets. Although the chances of finding a planet that supports life are very slim, there should be enough of these unusual star systems out there that the concept is plausible. Via: Space.com Source: NASA , ArXiv.org (PDF)

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Scientists find the largest known planet to orbit two stars

Apple announced iOS 10 for iPhones and iPads at WWDC today

(credit: Apple) Apple today announced iOS 10, a new major version of its operating system for iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches. There is a redesigned control center with interactive notifications, and improvements to widgets (such as those that show calendar and weather information). 3D Touch can now do more: For example, you can press your screen to clear all notifications at once. Siri is getting improvements, with the ability to book rides on services like Uber and Lyft, the ability to start and pause workouts, and make payments to send money to friends with SquareCash and other services. Siri’s will be more intelligent in messaging. For example, if a friend asks for the contact information of another friend, Siri can automatically provide the contact. Siri can also pull up calendar availability in message threads, and let you do multilingual typing without switching the keyboard language. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Apple announced iOS 10 for iPhones and iPads at WWDC today